Getting Started...
The city of Magnimar (pronounced MAG-nih-mahr) stood as one of the two major city-states of southern Varisia. Founded by Korvosan dissenters in 4608 AR, the City of Monuments as it came to become called stood as a rival to Korvosa in an open war of coin and words. The people of the city are termed 'Magnimarians. Magnimar was a large city located on the southwestern coast of Varisia where the Yondabakari River empties into the Varisian Gulf. The city was surrounded by the mostly inhospitable Mushfens. The city itself was defined by two colossal landmarks which predate modern civilization by thousands of years or more. The Irespan is an ancient Thassilonian ruin, the easternmost end of a giant bridge which has now crumbled into the sea. This enormous relic stretched from Magnimar's other most noticeable feature, the three-hundred-foot tall cliff which cuts the city in two known as the Seacleft. Magnimar was ruled by two official political bodies: the Council of Ushers and the Office of the Lord-Mayor. This two-tiered system was established at the city's founding to ensure that no single person ever had too much control. Despite the idealist intentions of the city's founders, over the last century both offices have become more power-hungry and less effective at representing the needs of the city-state's citizens. The Council of Ushers served as the legislature of Magnimar and contained 117 members, 90 or so who were recently convicted of fraud, embezzlement, and corruption along with all 13 justices. Of these, many are nobles whose families have held seats for generations, back to the time when the Council was but fifteen members large. But as time went on and as wealth became a new source of power, dozens of seats were filled with scheming merchants and greedy power-seekers, as well as a frustrated number of genuinely altruistic activists and honest merchants all vying to have their personal causes (many of which are entirely self-serving) heard and passed into law. The Council met in austere Usher's Hall in Capital District. In theory restricted by the council of Ushers the Lord-Mayor was by far the most powerful person in Magnimar. This immense power normally result in a corruption and the current Lord-Mayor Haldmeer Grobaras was no exception and many of Magnimar's political matters were determined not by who was right or at least most persuasive but who brought the Lord-Mayor the most lavish and impressive gift (bribe). He was recently exposed as a harborer and protector of the Skinsaw cult, a group attributed with a rash of vicious murders in Magnimar. Ethnic Varisians encountered less prejudice in this majority Chelaxian city, but they tended to be segregated to certain neighborhoods and rarely hold public office. Some dwarves and halflings called Magnimar home but none held public office, even if they were wealthy. Commonly worshipped gods and goddesses of the people of Magnimar include: * Calistria (goddess of trickery, luck, and revenge)—she is chaotic in nature; * Desna (goddess of dreams, stars, and travel)—she is chaotic good in nature; * Erastil (god of hunting, farming, and trade)—he is lawful good in nature; * Iomedae (goddess of valor, justice, and the sun)—she is lawful good in nature; * Norgorber (god of greed, secrets, and poison)—he is evil in nature; * Pharasma (god of prophecy, death, and rebirth)—she is neutral in nature; and * Sarenrae (goddess of fire, healing, and honesty)—she is good in nature. Recently, Magnimar went bankrupt amid a large, publicized scandal involving corruption and misdeeds of most of the governing officials. Even organized crime, the Scarnetti family has disappeared mysteriously. With no government and no wealth, Magnimar is falling into chaos with inhabitants fleeing to the nearby cities of Sandpoint, Turtleback Ferry, and Korvosa. You are all Magnimar refugees who have recently moved into the outskirts of Sandpoint, which you are calling the Monument Quarter. The city of Sandpoint has not only welcomed your people but have generously helped you clear the forest in your camp and build homes and storefronts for the 100 or more refugees. In addition, many people from your city have been recruited for the bards college, both as teachers and as students. You all come from moderately wealthy merchant family's with unique livelihoods that will benefit Sandpoint and the surrounding areas. A brilliant and industrious scrollmaster named Mordecai, another transplant from Magnimar, has been afforded a wizarding branch of the bardic college. Though there are magic classes happening at the bards college, they are only reserved for traditional magical creatures and magic users. However, Mordecai has discovered a new way to imbue magical abilities upon non-magic users, and Vachedi Tesserani, the 19-year old owner of the college and all around renaissance man and regional celebrity, would like to pilot Mordecai's methods to make sure it is sound before he approves it for the public. You are non-magical users who have been given a chance to pilot this because of the sizable donation your families are making to the bard’s college. In addition, your family is sending you with additional funds in the hopes that it will afford you a better education from Mordecai. Unless I give you permission otherwise, you are human in race and fighter or rogue in class and have one regular weapon in which your class is proficient with. Except for evil and for class requirements, you may choose any alignment you wish. April and Chad, since you have previous experience, you may also select dwarf or halfling as a race and monk or barbarian as a class. Alec, since you are hosting the game, you also get a Knucklebone of Diplomacy: Whenever you would roll for diplomacy, you may roll a second d20 and add that result to the total. You do not add any other modifiers on the second roll. Everyone will eventually receive a unique item or gift from your parents throughout the course of the game when you make monumental achievements. We will level up characters upon completion of quest items to keep everyone at the same character level. You will advance as your chosen class but use that class level as your caster level when casting spells. In addition, unique spell abilities, spells, and items will be found or achieved throughout the game as well as earning hero points. A character can only have 3 hero points at a time and can be used to do amazing feats during the game. It is at my discretion what can be done, but I will generally accept creative uses of these points for flavor or character development, instead of plot. Aside from these limitations, your back story is your own. Your physical description may be whatever you want including skintones, gender, sexuality, or other characteristics you want. Personalities and demeanors are also your choice and add flavor and sometimes delightful teambuilding challenges to the game. The more detail you put into your back story, the more fleshed out your character will be and the better your game experience will be. Please think about your motiviations, name, personal histories, and how you might know each other from Magnimar. Couples may remain couples or may play siblings or strangers or whatever. Looking forward to rolling out characters on July 11th!